Day 8 - A Song That You Know All the Words To

I know a lot of songs. From all the choir work, the musical theatre, and now the relentless karaoke nights, I know more songs than the average bear. I know a good number of them by heart, especially the ones that I sing a lot. Much of the Barenaked Ladies' catalog, for example. "Walking in Memphis", "Blow at High Dough", "Lightning Crashes", "One for My Baby", "Bodies"… you know, the standards.

Anyway, I thought it would be more interesting to talk about a song that I hardly ever hear anymore. A song that I would never, ever sing at karaoke unless the DJ was suffering some form of gastric distress and needed a long break.

Yeah, haters gonna hate; I don't care. Bat Out of Hell is a fantastic album, and I listened the heck out of it when I was a kid. How can you not like an album that's more than 46 minutes long, yet only has seven songs on it? Heck, "Paradise…" isn't even the longest song on the album.

Let's list the ways "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is amazing:

It's an eight-and-a-half minute long song that got regular radio airplay. I can barely imagine a song even half that long charting today.

It's a not-at-all thinly-veiled celebration of teen sexuality.

Phil Rizzuto does baseball play-by-play during the middle of the song. Scooter!

Ellen Foley, the female vocalist, had the Markie Post role on Night Court before Markie Post did. Oh, and on an unrelated note, am I the only person who didn't know that The Clash's classic "Should I Stay or Should I Go" was rumoured to have been written by Mick Jones about his relationship with Ellen Foley? And on an even less-related note, I dare you to look at this picture of Markie Post and tell me she isn't the most quintessentially 1980s' TV actress. Seriously — just look at that hair.

Anyway, I played the heck out of this album. There was a time when I could probably sing the whole thing from memory — it's no longer that time, but I still know every word to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", both parts. The baseball game excepted, unfortunately; I've lost a good chunk of that to the ravages of time. Sad…

30 Songs in 30 Days

Your Favourite Song - "American Pie" by Don McLean

Your Least Favourite Song - "Hotel Room Service" by Pitbull

A Song That Makes You Happy - "Legend of a Cowgirl" by Imani Coppola

A Song That Makes You Sad - "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley

A Song That Reminds You of Someone - "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga

A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere - "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads

A Song That Reminds You of a Certain Event - "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer

A Song That You Know All the Words To - "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf